


Let the Light In

by the_sound_of_inevitability



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Movie: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, POV Ben Solo, POV Kylo Ren, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22090324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sound_of_inevitability/pseuds/the_sound_of_inevitability
Summary: A short ficlet on Kylo Ren's POV during the fight on the Death Star surface, plus my own fix-it theory on how he found a working TIE fighter on the Death Star.Spoilers for those who haven't seen TROS!
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Let the Light In

When Leia Organa died, everything in Kylo’s mind… stopped.

For as long as he could remember, his head had been filled with a buzzing, a harsh susurration of whispers that tormented him. Only anger and pain brought him peace. Every hateful act, every blistering shout that escaped his lips was its own reward. 

Rage. Passion. Snoke had told him that passion was the source of every Sith’s power. Only when his blood was thundering in his veins, when his heart was racing, did Kylo Ren feel at peace. 

Like when he fought Rey. In their lightsaber battles the world dropped away. Just the two of them, fighting because the Force had brought them together. Fighting because they were two of the same. Fighting because neither of them knew better.

In the middle of their fight on the Death Star there had been no thought, no logical progression of idea-action-result. They were hammering at each other the way they always did, and the clamour of voices in his mind rose to a pitch.

_Kill - destroy - death - ruin -_

_**Ben.** _

He stopped fighting, even stopped holding onto his lightsaber. When it fell from his fingers - and into Rey’s hand - the surging vibration of the unstable kyber crystal no longer ran up his arm. The hum faded away. He hung suspended in a world of light and silence, and felt his mother pass from the galaxy.

Silence.

Pain.

The lightsaber ripped into his stomach, piercing and burning at the same time. He looked into Rey’s eyes, contorted with hate and fury, and he felt a strange mirroring.

He was himself, younger, lying in bed and staring up at Uncle Luke. The glow of the green lightsaber showed only hate and anger on his uncle’s face, and young Ben Solo was afraid.

He was Bail Organa, trapped in the moments before Alderaan’s complete destruction, hoping that his daughter was safe.

He was Padmé Amidala, heavily pregnant on a planet made of fire, struggling to breathe as the love of her life choked the breath from her lungs with a gesture, his eyes yellowing in fury.

More faces, more places, more lightsabers and more dying. Too many to count. All flashed before his eyes and Kylo Ren felt how awful goodness was. He lived the dying moments of his ancestors and felt love.

Finally, he was Han Solo, staring at his own blank face. He looked down at the lightsaber embedded in his stomach, to another mirroring. His hand - Rey’s hand - wrapped around the hilt.

He looked up again, into his own eyes. He felt Han’s love bubbling up within him, a power that even the searing pain of a lightsaber couldn’t touch. His hand - Han’s hand - rose and cupped his cheek. He remembered then how it felt, the benediction of his father in the last moments of his life.

_Ben._

Rey deactivated the lightsaber, and he slumped to the ground. The waves pounded against the Death Star’s shell. Kylo Ren felt cold.

Rey’s eyes had glassed over with tears, and it was then that he felt the ripple in the Force. The very world seemed to shimmer and exhale at Leia Organa’s passing. Again, Kylo Ren was hit with a wave of love, a defiant rail against the darkness, and felt something break inside him.

The voices had stopped.

The lightsaber fell to the floor, dropping from Rey’s limp fingers, and she dropped to her knees beside Ben Solo.

He wasn’t bleeding - lightsabers cauterized every wound as they passed through - but the pain seared through him. Every breath was agony. His organs had fused together within his body, and his lungs were shutting down.

A whisper.

_Ben._

He felt a hand on his chest. Rey. Her hand was small, and warm despite the cold of their surroundings. 

Ben Solo inhaled, and felt the Force move around him. Through him.

_We’re here._

_Don’t be afraid._

When he came to - he had seen Rey leave in his fighter but was unable to move, struck dumb and immovable by the cascade of emotions coursing through him - the waves were beginning to lose height and ferocity. 

He spoke with the memory of his father - not quite a Force ghost, but not a hallucination - and threw away his lightsaber.

Ben stood on the surface of the Death Star for a long time, and listened to the silence.

After a while, he heard voices again.

_The girl needs help, Ben._

_She needs you._

"What do I do?" he said to the waves, and the sky, and the air itself, knowing that his ancestors surrounded him, that he was not alone.

A glimmer of blue out of the corner of his eye. An older man in Jedi robes stood a short distance away.

"Let me show you." Anakin said.


End file.
